Monday, February 24, 2014

ALL IN by JC SZOT

Raised in the outskirts of Pittsburgh in a slum known as The Hollow, has
both Mick and Cara stuck at a dead end. Tired of taking second place to
his brother who's up for the next NBA draft, Mick plans his escape.
Having concealed his feelings for Cara since childhood, thinking he'd
never be able to give her what she deserves has him recruiting her,
making her part of his plan for the future. Cara, who's just been going
through the motions of a mundane life escapes her harsh reality through
fiction romance, often wishing she could live the life of the characters
she reads about. As Mick and Cara set out on their journey there are
bumps along the way. As Mick struggles, waiting for the right time to
confess his feelings he discovers the method of Cara's escape. When Mick
decides to rely on Cara's fictional world to assist him with the
expression of his affections, real life and fiction collide. Will Mick
learn how to be the expressive man Cara wants on his own? Will Cara
accept his overtures as genuine while the two attempt to gain stability
and have a life together, leaving the grime and grit of The Hollow
behind?

“Where did you get that?” Cara asked. Her eyes widened at
the wad of cash Mick had clenched between his fingers. He
straightened out the bills, fanning them in her face like a deck of
cards.

“It’s my old man’s, or it was,” Mick said. A cunning grin
formed on his full lips.

It was more money than Cara had ever seen, aside from
standing in line while at the bank.

“I found it stuffed behind the fucking insulation down in the
basement,” Mick told her. “Fucking asshole ... says he never has any
money. Well, now I’ve got a little over three G’s.”

They huddled in the dark alley, shuddering from a bone-
chilling wind that tunneled around them.

Mick’s eyes flashed as he pushed the black wool cap back
over his brows, displaying features that could easily swing between
expressions, and at the drop of a hat. Cara had seen both sides, how
Mick could look wonderfully handsome, as well as extremely
intimidating.

He kept his dark hair buzzed close to his scalp. Mick had
intense hazel eyes that seemed to change with his expressions, often
looking as dark as cocoa with a leafy green incorporated in. Those
unique eyes were paired with a strong, square jaw. His cheeks were
always shaded with a hint of growth.

Checking both ends of the alley, Mick rolled the bills up,
returning them to the safe confines of his pocket.

“What are you going to do with that money?” Cara pulled her
hood over her head.

“It’s what we’re going to do with it,” Mick told her, his
features sobering. He scoured the length of the alley once more, his
voice lowering. “We’re getting the fuck outta here.”

“What the hell are you saying?” Cara felt her entire body go
tight. The look on Mick’s face had her mind racing.

“Just look at our folks.” He sniffed, shaking his head. “There’s
no future here. We live in The Hollow, remember?” Mick’s hand
reached for her. His fingers dug into her arm. His grip seared through
her heavy coat. Mick shook her, jarring her with the brutal truth of his
words. “If we don’t get out of here now, we’ll never leave,” Mick
whispered, his tone now dripping with an empathy Cara wasn’t
familiar with. “There’s better, and I don’t need to become a goddamn
basketball player to get it,” he said sharply.

Cara knew the resentment Mick had for his brother ran deep.
All Mick’s parents cared about was Theo’s athletic success and what
it could buy them later. Theo had won a scholarship for college and
was now being considered for the NBA draft.
Mick had always fought to tame his jealousy, only ever getting
the leftovers. He’d never been praised for his good grades. His father
always told him there was never any money for him to even consider
taking a night class at the local community college.

Mick was a short-order cook at the local diner, and a good
one, but Cara knew his aspirations were always trying to reach higher.

They’d both been living day-to-day in The Hollow. Mick had
been vowing since graduating high school that he was going to split.
Cara had underestimated him. She thought this day would never
come, assuming Mick shared her own fears about leaving, fears that
were connected to failure, only having to return and admit defeat.
Silence hung around them as dead leaves swirled in the wind before
skidding across the asphalt.

They were already twenty-two years old. Mick was right. Very
little had changed. Had Cara become so numbed by the same daily
routine that she hadn’t noticed?

She’d been sloughing in a dead-end job, assembling pegboards
at Rothmans’ Millworks. As Mick presented this blinding reality,
Cara’s thoughts reverted back to her mother. Though Cara had always
had shelter and food, her mother was foolish, shacking up with a new
man every week.

A gust of biting wind stung her eyes. Mick’s voice clawed its
way through the shadows.

“We only get one fucking life, and this isn’t how it’s gonna
be,” he said, jamming the toe of his sneaker into the concrete.
“Why do you want to take me?” Cara asked, her heart tripping
at her own question. She and Mick had been what Cara always
thought of as “survivor mates.” This was a radical move. Before she
agreed to anything, she needed to know.

“No way am I leaving you here,” he told her through an
irritated breath, his jaw tight. “It’s now or never. It’s this one second
of indecision that can easily turn into many minutes. Minutes that turn
into the hours of days, days that you can never get back. Faltering can
do years of damage.” Mick swallowed hard, his eyes narrowing.

“If we say the slightest thing all people will do is laugh,” Mick
said, his tone scathing. “They’ll say our plan will never work, and
we’ll be back. I will not listen to their fears of failure. People are also
going to question where I got the funds to leave. I’d probably be
arrested for stealing, knowing how gossip travels around this place.”
Mick shook his head. “Tomorrow night is the night. Are you in,
Cara?”